Exactly ten years have passed since the tragic day for the United States - four attacks organized by suicide bombers from the Al-Qaeda organization. Nineteen militants hijacked four passenger airliners. Two of these liners were sent by the invaders to the towers of the World shopping center in New York, causing both towers to collapse within hours. The third plane was sent to the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia. The passengers and crew of the fourth airliner attempted to take control of the aircraft, causing the aircraft to crash into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. In total, about three thousand people died as a result of terrorist attacks.

Let's remember how it was.

1. The aircraft approaches the building of the world trade center a few seconds before the attack on the second tower, September 11, 2001. Two skyscrapers, each with 110 floors, collapsed, burying people under them.

3. United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashed into the south side of the South Tower (WTC-2) at 9:03 am on September 11th. As a result of the terrorist act, 2,800 people died.

4. Bush Chief of Staff Andy Card informs the President of what happened at the World Trade Center during Bush's visit to primary school Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, September 11, 2001.

5. Burning towers of the World Trade Center behind the Empire State Building in New York, September 11, 2001.

6. A man who fell out of the window of the north tower of the World Trade Center after a terrorist attack.

7. The South Tower of the World Trade Center, left, begins to collapse after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The second tower collapsed much faster than the first, as it received more serious damage, experts say.

8. Fleeing eyewitnesses of the disaster. Fourth from the left is Charlie Ross.

9. People in a panic rush to leave the area of ​​the attack.

11. From head to toe covered with dust Marcy Borders, one of the eyewitnesses of the disaster.

12. Dominique Guadanoli helps a woman injured during a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center towers.

13. The Statue of Liberty in thick clouds of smoke rising from the collapsed towers of the World Trade Center, September 15, 2001.

14. Edward Fine, one of the eyewitnesses of the disaster. He was on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center at the time of the suicide attack.

15. A firefighter calls for help from ten more colleagues during rescue work on the ruins of the World Trade Center on September 14, 2001.

16. Rescuers assist a wounded woman.

17. Survivors of the terrorist attack on the towers of the World Trade Center make their way among the ruins, dust and debris on Fulton Street.

18. Julia McDermot, center, is one of those lucky enough to survive the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center buildings.

19. American flag on the ruins of the World Trade Center. It should be noted that one of the consequences of the terrorist act was an unprecedented intensification of patriotic sentiments in society, and the flag, which had lost its popularity during political conflicts, the Vietnam War, and anti-American protests in European countries, again became a symbol of the nation.

20. An injured firefighter screams in pain from being injured during the September 11, 2001 attacks.

21. People in a panic leave the crash site.

22. A man with a fire extinguisher on the ruins of the towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

23. Firefighters in the ruins of the World Trade Center.

Brooklyn police officers George Johnson, left, Dan McWilliams, center, and Billy Eisengrain, right, raise the flag over the ruins of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

September 11, 2001 is a black day in the history of mankind: this terrible terrorist attack claimed the lives of almost three thousand people. Moreover, among them there could be celebrities. Today, the men's magazine MPORT will tell you about the stars who almost went to the next world.

Larry Silverstein

Larry Silverstein is an American billionaire entrepreneur and real estate developer. In July 2001, he rented the twin towers of the World Trade Center for 99 years (actually bought them). On September 11, the owner was on the 88th floor of the north tower. Thank God, his wife called him and reminded him that Larry needed to go to the dermatologist for an appointment. Thus one of richest in the world this remained alive.

Source: filmweb.pl

Michael Lomonaco

American television knows everything about the famous restaurateur and host of cooking shows Michael Lomonaco. And even the fact that on September 11, before the next broadcast, he popped into the Craftlens optics store to find out if his glasses were repaired. Those 15 minutes saved the restaurateur's life.

Source: chew.com

Gwyneth Paltrow

American actress and singer Gwyneth Paltrow knows how to save lives. On that terrible day, the star was driving her Mercedes SUV down West Village when she saw Lara Landstorm Clark in the middle of the road (the young ladies went to yoga together). Gwyneth slowed down and invited Lara to the car salon. The girlfriends were so chatty that Clarke missed the train to work. The young lady needed to go to the 77th floor of the south tower.

As Lara was about to board the next train, she saw the first plane hit the north tower. Of course, the woman was no longer up to work.

Who knows, maybe the star was heading the same way and it was Clarke who saved Paltrow, and not the other way around?

Source: en.memory-alpha.org

Patti Austin

American singer Patti Austin was also on the list of lucky celebrities. She had to fly to a concert dedicated to Michael Jackson. And Patty even had tickets for the ominous Boston-San Francisco junction Flight 93 (9/11 hijacked by terrorists, crashed in a field in southwestern Pennsylvania). Fortunately, the star's mother had a stroke. Therefore, instead of a plane, Patty got into a taxi and went to one of the intensive care units in New York. And everything could have ended differently.

Source: imnotobsessed.com

Julie Stofer

The star of the American reality show The Real World Judy Stofer, like Patti Austin, almost ended up on board one of the kamikaze planes (Flight 11 connecting Boston-Los Angeles). She missed her flight because she got into a fight with her boyfriend.

Source: justjared.com

Ian Thorpe

"Why not enjoy the views from the observation deck of one of the tallest buildings in the world" - thought the famous Australian swimmer and 5-time Olympic champion Ian Thorp. - Sorry, I forgot my camera. I'll have to go back home."

And thank God.

Source: canthavetoomanycards.blogspot.com

Jim Pierce

Jim Pierce is the chief executive of the New York insurance corporation AON and part-time cousin of George W. Bush. On September 11, Jim was scheduled to speak at a business conference on the 105th floor of the south tower. But because of a large number visitors, the event was moved to the Millenium Hotel (one street from the tower). Pierce is very lucky.

On September 11, 2001, exactly ten years ago, the world changed: the global war on terrorism began, the clash of civilizations, the obsession with security. Or has not changed: remained the same unipolar as he became in 1991, the same obsessed with success and money. World-historical 9/11 assessments depend mainly on the worldview of the assessor. Without resorting to bold generalizations, several stories can be told about how 9/11 changed the lives of specific people.

This is such a separate genre of the American press - "9/11 survival story", "story of salvation on September 11". Each is like a script for a Hollywood movie, full of fear and despair, but certainly with a happy ending. It is a rare luck to watch "live" how the people create a "place of memory" for themselves - a historical myth (not in the sense of "fiction", but in the sense of a rallying emotional memory).

Here is the story of Nei Melo, a former investment banker, as told in a Yahoo! News, dedicated to the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Like many people of his generation, Melo became a banker, inspired by the film "Wall Street" by Oliver Stone. In 2001, he worked at Lehman Brothers and sat on the 24th floor of a skyscraper across the street from the World Trade Center. The twin towers were crumbling before his eyes. Then Melo was depressed for a long time, tormented by the fact that he spends 12 or more hours a day counting other people's money. To distract himself, he decided to take up dancing. Ten years later, Ney Melo is a famous tango dancer, leading milongas and workshops in New York and around the world.

And here is another story - the preacher-evangelist Sujo John and his wife Mary. In 2001, they worked at the World Trade Center, in different towers. Mary was pregnant. John was on the 81st floor of the First Tower when the plane crashed into it. He spent the next hour climbing the stairs out of the building. Meanwhile, another plane crashed into the Second Tower, and Mary was standing below, in front of the entrance, desperately trying to get through to her husband. Assuming each other dead, they both made a vow to God, if He saves their lives, to dedicate it to helping poor people in the "third world" and preaching the Gospel. Ten years later, Sujo John runs a missionary and charitable organization dedicated to helping mainly his native India.

Another story is Marcy Borders, the "ash woman" in the famous photo taken by AFP's Stan Honda. In 2001, she was working at Bank of America and was sitting in the First Tower when a plane crashed into it. Honda photographed Borders minutes after she climbed out of the building. After 9/11, Borders fell into a severe depression. The main character of her nightmares was Osama bin Laden. She was addicted to crack and didn't want to live. In April 2011, she entered a rehabilitation clinic. And on May 2, it was announced that Osama bin Laden did not survive the meeting with the US Navy Special Forces detachment " Seals A month and a half later, in an interview with the New York Post, Borders said she now found peace. After going through rehab, she returned to her family and two children and now sleeps peacefully.

Or here is another story of Michael Hingson and Labrador Roselle. Hingson is blind, Roselle was his guide dog. She was afraid of thunder. On the eve of 9/11, there was just a thunderstorm, and Hingson stayed up half the night calming the dog. In the morning, he arrived at work on the 78th floor of the First Tower, and soon a plane crashed into the building. Roselle got him out of the building and found him a hiding place in the subway. Hingson soon went to work for a company that trains guide dogs (including Roselle). After Roselle died at the age of 13 (September 11, the dog inhaled toxins and weakened its immune system), Hingson created a charity fund to help the blind. It is called Roselle's Dream Foundation - in honor of the dog that saved it.

Similar stories filled all the American newspapers on the eve of the anniversary of 9/11. There are hundreds and thousands of them, and most of them almost do not differ from each other: “I was in such and such a tower, on such and such a floor, suddenly there was a roar, the walls shook, everyone was shouting, I ran, the phones did not work ... "Next - how someone helped a person or how he himself helped someone, and then the inevitable conclusion:" They wanted us to be scared, they wanted to prevent us from living the way we live, they wanted to take away our freedom, love and hope. But they didn't succeed."

These stories are not only the same - they are also unbearably pathetic and sentimental. They persistently dictate to the reader how to relate to the events described. In them, the line between psychotherapy and propaganda is vanishingly thin.

It is likely that they annoy some part of the public. But it is precisely thanks to such stories, which in any case evoke the most acute feeling of empathy (“how would I behave? ..”), 9/11 as a “place of memory” took approximately the same place in the national consciousness of Americans as ours - Victory 1945. This is a shrine that no one dares to stain with the slightest reproach or the slightest doubt.

And this is one of the main results of the past ten years.

September 11 marks the 15th anniversary of the largest terrorist attack in world history. On an autumn day in 2001, 2 passenger planes hijacked by terrorists rammed the towers of the World Trade Center, the third plane was sent to the Pentagon building, and the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania. Almost 3 thousand people died.

Among the victims of a series of four coordinated attacks were Americans, Canadians, British, French, Japanese, Chinese - people of different ages and nationalities, including 25 people from the former USSR.

Some miraculously managed to escape. Two of the surviving Russians, Andrey Tkach and Alexander Skibitsky, shared their stories.

Andrey Tkach, a native of Novosibirsk, lives in the USA

“At 8:45 I was at work, on the 72nd floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Just took a coffee and was about to sit down for a report. Even before it shook, I heard some strange whistle - then, remembering, I guessed that it was the noise from the aircraft engine on approach to the tower. And immediately after, the whole building literally moved a few meters, no one could stay on their feet, everyone fell. The first thought is an earthquake. We froze, not understanding what was happening. I went to the window, and for some reason papers and some burning garbage were falling from the sky. Smoke and fire are not visible, and it is completely incomprehensible what is happening. What to do next - too.

We called the rescue service. They said: you need to stay in your places and wait for instructions. My colleague Dak Keenan, the longest-serving employee of our firm, said then: the main thing is not to panic, because in 1993, during the terrorist attack, much more people died not from the explosion, but because they were trampled by the crowd, rushing to the exit. And now you need to behave calmly and act in an organized manner.

And then my wife got through to someone and said: they say on CNN that a plane crashed into us. I immediately said: "We must go down." I was told that it was better to wait for instructions. All the same Duck said that if you go, then go to the roof, because the last time people were evacuated from there by helicopters. They began to argue whether to leave or not, and where. We decided to find out in the Rescue Service. For a long time it was impossible to dial - there was no connection or busy. And when they finally got through on the phone, they were ordered to stay where they were.

And then I saw a man's suit fly past our windows. To be honest, at first I didn’t understand who and why had the idea to throw the suit down. And then suddenly realized that it was a man. Decided to spit on everything and leave. The rest remained to wait for instructions or rescuers.

When I went out into the corridor, there was already smoke. The staircase, too, was covered with it, it was dark and very hot, almost unbearably hot. A few dozen people descended from above, but not many at the moment. Some were injured, with burns - the rest helped them, encouraged them. We went down slowly, because with each passed floor people arrived: they appeared from the side exits, it was necessary to stop and let a new batch pass. There were especially many people on the stairs when the general evacuation was finally announced. Some doors warped and jammed, we helped to open them.

It was impossible to overtake those walking - the stairs are very narrow, you can't stretch your legs. Because of the smoke and dust, it became more difficult to breathe - people coughed, choked. I was very sorry that, like the last idiot, I had not thought to wet my clothes in advance in order to wrap my mouth and nose, and now it was too late, there was nowhere to get water. He covered his face with a scarf. Then for the first time the thought occurred to me that a person's life is measured not by the years lived, but by the number of breaths taken. I wondered how many more breaths I could take before I died.

Somewhere in the middle of the way we met the first firefighters going upstairs. They were in full gear, carrying equipment. There seemed to be an infinite number of them. The oncoming traffic made the stairs even tighter. When they got up, water from fire extinguishers began pouring down on us from above.

I don’t know if it seemed to me or not, but gradually the building began to crackle and sway. Some kind of animal fear appeared, he pushed, said: “Run!”. If it were not for the crowd blocking the way, I would have run, but there was no such possibility. We descended more and more slowly, and the fear grew stronger. When we were already almost down, it shook again so that many fell off their feet. We were suddenly hit in the face by a terrible stream of red-hot dusty smoke. I didn't understand what happened. Then I found out - this is because the South Tower collapsed.

As soon as we got to the exit of this vertical hell and there was an opportunity to run, I ran. Human bodies fell nearby. When they hit the ground, people split like watermelons. A man who was running a few meters in front of me was crushed by a fallen concrete block, only blood splattered. Further, I didn’t really see what was around, I raced without looking back, as never before in my life.

When I was already five hundred meters away, I was suddenly lifted into the air and carried above the ground. It was the North Tower that collapsed, but then I didn’t know about it. Falling, flew head over heels. When I got up, for ten seconds I could not figure out where to run next. Everything around looked like a black and white film about nuclear winter. Dust and ashes in clubs, a thick layer of dust and concrete crumbs everywhere, papers and garbage swirling in the air. A little further down the street lies a fire engine turned upside down. And for some reason, her wheels are spinning in the air.

A numbness came over me. I remember: I stood and, not looking up, looked at these wheels. I don't know how long I stayed. Then a man came up to me, touched my shoulder and asked if I was all right. Then I finally came to my senses, shook off the dust and went. I don't remember how I got to the Brooklyn Bridge. There were already thousands of people there - the metro was not working, everyone was walking. The crowd was huge, but it was very quiet. Everyone was in a depressed mood: after 9/11, New York stopped smiling altogether for a while. Fighters whizzed past us in the sky.

In Brooklyn, a car stopped next to me, the driver offered to take me home. I wanted to pay the fare, but he flatly refused. He said that he had already taken several people and was going to deliver those who managed to get out of Manhattan unscathed until the evening. On the way we saw the first American flags hung from balconies and windows. Then there were a lot of these flags.

Smoke hung over Manhattan for another four days until it rained on September 15, and the smell of burning remained in the city until spring, when the last debris was removed.

Alexander Skibitsky, a native of Krasnoyarsk, lives in Canada

“September 11, 2001 was a beautiful day - it was Indian summer, which in the States for some reason is called Indian. My mood was appropriate, high: at the weekend, my wife and I were going to leave our son with a nanny and relax for the first time in a long time - give up on the Hudson. I remember that I even hummed to myself when I started the computer. My desk in the office on the 65th floor of the South Tower was by the window, and I really liked that on a clear day you could even see the curvature of the horizon. Before going about my business, out of habit, I went to the window, stood, admired the view, drank coffee.

I didn’t see the plane that crashed into the North Tower, nor did I see the explosion - the windows of our office faced the other side. But we felt the explosion everything: it shook. What happened, no one really understood.

As soon as it became known that the North Tower was on fire, everyone immediately grabbed their phones and started calling their relatives. They said that everything is fine with them, that they did not suffer. And I had one thought: “I’ll call later, but now I need to make sure that everything is really fine with me.” I immediately decided that I needed to get out as quickly as possible, otherwise you never know. Suddenly the North Tower will collapse on ours or something else will happen.

Of course, I could not have imagined that another plane would soon crash into our tower. No one imagined that the neighboring tower was attacked on purpose, everyone decided that this was an accident. I remember wondering what kind of idiot you have to be to crash into a skyscraper with such excellent visibility as today.

They announced over the loudspeaker that nothing threatens us, evacuation is not required. You need to stay where you are so as not to interfere with the police and firefighters working around the North Tower. The boss decided to play it safe and ordered to start packing the documentation and computers just in case. My Bangladeshi friend Wally and I talked on the sidelines and decided: it doesn’t matter what they say, we need to get out.

We went down in the high-speed elevator. There, the flow of people was blocked by security and announced: everyone should immediately return to their jobs, nothing threatens the South Tower. The disciplined Americans turned back and started going up in the elevators, while Wally and I slipped out. Having gone down, he tried to call his wife, to say that he was alive, but the mobile connection was no longer working.

Below, everything was littered with broken glass and concrete, the wreckage of the aircraft was burning. We had to literally step over them. The sirens of fire engines and ambulances roared around, helicopters circled in the sky. When we moved to a safe, as it seemed to us, distance, we stopped to see what was happening. Smoke was billowing from the North Tower - never seen such black smoke before. We managed to see how, above, above the line of fire, people get out and somehow hold on, grabbing onto the columns. Several people were seen jumping or falling out of windows. One couple fell, holding hands to the last.

And then we heard the sound of a low-going plane - it looked like an underground train was approaching us at great speed. And right after that, there was an explosion. We shifted our gaze and saw that our tower, South, was on fire. A ball of fire shot up above her. I mentally crossed myself: "It's good that I got out." And some person standing next to me exhaled: “This is war.” And then I realized that he was right.

Around began a real hell. People ran out of the towers in droves, covered in soot and dust, covered in blood. They fell from the tops of the towers and crashed on the ground. Some fallen bodies were on fire, they were tried to extinguish. The police tried to organize an evacuation, to calm and order the crowd, but they did not really succeed.

Behind the cordon line, many relatives were already waiting, who managed to rush to Manhattan, having seen the news of the attack. I still remember how one guy literally jumped to hug him, his wife and two children. Together they fell to the ground, lay and laughed with happiness. Those who had not yet waited for their relatives prayed. The women were crying.

The southern tower, which collapsed first, collapsed so quickly that for some time the smoke retained its shape. You understand: it was no longer there, but there was smoke in this place. The crowd around us only had time to exhale “Oh, my God!” in one voice, as it was all over. A huge shaft of smoke, ash and dust fell on us. This shaft looked exactly like the special effects in the movies, but it was all real. It was hard to believe it, did not leave the feeling that it was all a dream, scenery, it does not happen in life.

When the dust settled, it seemed to me that everything around seemed to be covered with snow. Like a house of cards, upside down cars lie one on top of the other. The windows of the houses are broken. Pieces of some kind of garbage, sheets of paper are flying in the air. It was impossible to make out who was around you - everyone was covered with such a thick layer of dust. It seemed to me that the same thick layer of dust is now inside us. The lungs were completely clogged - then I thought that I would never be able to breathe normally again, I would not get rid of this dust.

A man who was standing not far from us was wounded by a piece of debris. I approached the policeman, I said: "There is a wounded man." He turns to me - and on top of the layer of dust on his face, grooves from tears. For some reason it was this picture that stood out to me the most. Wally and I helped the wounded man get to the nearest ambulance.

I also remember how some elderly woman rushed along the street, rushing to every passer-by, asking with despair and hope in her voice: “Frankie?”. Tried to dust off their faces to see if it was him or not. People in response only shook their heads negatively - no one could speak. I still don’t know who this Frankie was to her - son, husband, brother?

We were lucky to get a taxi. On the way, the taxi driver stopped two more times and picked up walking people strewn with ashes. He even put a man in the front seat, which usually New York taxi drivers never do. Only in a taxi did I truly believe that I was alive. We then thought that not thousands, but tens of thousands of people died in the WTC towers. It sounds cynical, but it was very lucky that there were much fewer victims.”